


The Whys and Hows

by KriKee



Series: Silken Curses and the Clarion Calls of Vengeance [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Meta, Metafiction, Other, Psychological Torture, Research, Torture, Triggers, long-ass AN that I felt needed to be separated from the story, the world is a terrible place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 04:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18130829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KriKee/pseuds/KriKee
Summary: My rambling over research/meta stuff for my fic 'Screaming (Exasperated Sighing) in the Dark' from ch. 2 - 6 - aka justifying why I wrote what I did and why it had the effect it did.





	The Whys and Hows

The long AN was probably going to be longer than the chapter I was going to post it to, so I cut it and made it its own fic. TL;DR I really get into researching and I was trying to find a reasonable limit and I came across some horrible things that I thought would fit the situation. Thus, for the first time ever, I have a trigger warning.

Reason for Orochimaru lasting so long without water: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-the-longest-people-have-survived-without-air-food-water-sunshine-or-sleep

Solitary confinement in a lot of countries - as far as we know from what people will admit - including the US and other Western countries is defined as:  
22 - 23 hours a day without contact with other human beings  
minimal free space. Prisons offer around eighty square feet/7.4 square metres cells for inmates punished/’protected’ with solitary confinement. This is roughly the size of an average bathroom.  
A restriction on entertainment/diverting material such as programs, radio, books etc.  
Sentences for adults can range from days to years/indefinite. The longest known case was forty-six years. The average length of stay for juveniles at Rikers Island was forty-three days. 

Solitary confinement has been condemned by many groups, up to and including the UN. The UN has outright banned solitary confinement for periods exceeding fifteen days at a time because it constitutes torture. The average duration for US inmates subjugated to solitary confinement is one to three months. Solitary confinement is considered especially cruel for: juveniles, women, women of colour and the mentally unwell.

We can consider it canon that Orochimaru is mentally unwell in some form or another as he has a general lack of empathy and appears to be a sociopath or at the least has an antisocial or attachment disorder. 

That said, he is a shinobi, and one who, at this point in time, has done moderately extensive modifications to his body. He is definitely more resilient to typical solitary confinement, even the kind that has his mobility extremely restricted, than the average human. However, prior to this chapter he had daily/near daily (negative) human contact. He also had light and a routine that had him relatively grounded, as well as food. 

Now his situation is different. He is deprived of all human contact, light, sound, (solid) food and liquids have been withheld for an unknown period of time exceeding three days. He has nothing to ground himself, not even the routine of being beaten. He is dislocated from time, space and his own body, with the exception of dull pain and an overpowering thirst.

The TL;DR version of psychological effects is found on p. 354 of source 5: “Even those inmate who are more psychologically resilient inevitably suffer severe psychological pain as a result of such confinement, especially when the confinement is prolonged, and especially when the individual experiences this confinement as being the product of an arbitrary exercise of power and intimidation. Moreover, the harm caused by such confinement may result in prolonged or permanent psychiatric disability, including impairments which may seriously reduce the inmate’s capacity to reintegrate into the broader community upon release from prison.”

Inmates who undergo solitary confinement for any length of time, especially longer cases, can suffer negative psychological effects. The six most common are: intense anxiety; perceptual distortions (visual, auditory, tactile hallucinations); difficulties with thinking.concentration and memory; hypersensitivity to stimuli; violent fantasies and reduced impulse control. Others effects are: anxiety attacks, panic attacks, nightmares, depression, anger issues, insomnia, becoming more prone to self-harm and suicide and many, many others. 

Following release from solitary confinement, people can find it incredibly hard to adapt to a social environment again because social skills have withered away; some may never feel comfortable around other people again. Inmates who are placed in solitary isolation may often end up in solitary confinement again because of the effects the first period had upon them. 

Physical and physiological side effects include headaches, tension in neck and back and general weakness from a lack of exercise, chronic lethargy, extreme dizziness and heart palpitations. Some also develop digestion problems, a lack of appetite, diarrhea and extreme weight loss.

Sources for solitary confinement effects, laws, rules, duration etc:  
https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2018/hidden-damage-solitary-confinement - regarding statistics, the UN calling US supermax prisons habit of solitary confinement torture and effects of it.  
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://en.wikipedia.org/&httpsredir=1&article=1071&context=pilr - particularly p. 8 - 12 and p. 16 - 24. Again, regarding the effects upon inmates, the routines they follow and regarding whether it is torture or not.  
http://jaapl.org/content/38/1/104.full - the effects on solitary confinement on the mentally ill.  
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/opus/issues/2015/spring/corcoran -emotional, psychological and physiological effects upon inmates  
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://en.wikipedia.org/&httpsredir=1&article=1362&context=law_journal_law_policy - a significant amount of information was from from p. 343 - 351. I draw especial attention to 350 to 353 that discusses effects on people with antisocial personality disorder as well as the people more resilient to the effects - and the effects it still had on them.


End file.
